As reports of snow drift in from the Rockies, the weather observers among us start dusting off their snow boards. These aren’t painted in bright, graphic designs. They don’t feature attachments to keep them tethered in place. And only the most desperate sport enthusiast would consider using THESE boards to glide down a snow covered slope. These snow boards are thin, flat pieces of wood about 2 feet square, painted white. They serve as a base for measuring snow depth. The thin body and the white surface prevent the board from heating up too much and provide a level, uniform base to capture the snowfall. The snowflakes aren’t lost in the patches of grass and you know immediately when the measuring stick hits bottom. So when the snow falls, we’ll be ready to tell just how deep it gets.
Mary Knapp, Weather Data Library
mknapp@ksu.edu